(March 11, 2022) Maureen McQuillan challenges:

Negativity… it can be so rampant among many people but we Christians don’t need to be negative!

The reality is that if we talk negatively we’re dishonouring God… and also causing others to be wrongly influenced.

We mustn’t dishonour the Lord!
The reality is that if we talk negatively we’re dishonouring God… and also causing others to be wrongly influenced.

Off all people, Christians should know scripture and be living a life of trusting God. We’re meant to be living above and beyond all negativities!

Oh I know, life has its negatives and reversals but, with the Holy Spirit’s supernatural help and by trusting God’s word – even as our greatest example, Jesus, did – we too can overcome such blues and be a good influence on others.

Afterall, it’s not good for any Christian to be acting, talking or even thinking negatively. Doing so must hurt and disappoint our loving heavenly Father God who expects us to fully trust him (as Robert wrote about last month: Trusting God in Everything)!

In Romans 15:13 (incidentally, my favourite scripture), the apostle Paul gives sound advice and bubbling encouragement to all of us about being positive… ‘May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.’

‘As you trust in Him’ is the key for all of us. Hope not only means having faith but to anticipate, usually with pleasure, expectation and confidence… as we trust our God.

Let go… of negativity!
It’s very sad that if despite attending church for years and hearing good sermons on trusting God, we still don’t know how to really trust our Lord, to have real confidence in Him… we need to let go of troubles and breakthrough in this vital area.

Now I know that I know that I can trust God, that He cares about me in every way. Over a lifetime He’s proved his love and caring in many a dire circumstance.

But let share personally here… often as I tell Christians about my own experiences of trusting God – including everyday living needs as well as spiritual, at times I can sense that some are thinking I’m over-the-top, over-positive and unrealistic.

No, I’m not! But (that’s a positive ‘but’!), I am merely affirming God’s word that I know within, that I know He delights to meet my every need (not greed of course).

Sadly it becomes so obvious that they themselves haven’t experienced that incredible relaxing rest of fully trusting God in everything, that Matthew 11:28 rest (‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest). Instead out roll negatives of ‘What if…’ and ‘But, but…’

Max Lucado has said that ‘Two types of voices command your attention today. Negative ones fill your mind with doubt, bitterness, and fear. Positive ones purvey hope and strength. Which one will you choose to heed?’

Such negatives of ‘what ifs’ and ‘but, buts’ are soul destroying and hinder God from displaying His positiveness toward us. And not only can they affect us personally, but also our ministry for Christ to others because people will pick up on our negativity.

Dr Robert Schuller once proclaimed that Jesus Christ was the most positive person ever, despite what He knew he would encounter! What an example to think about, especially next month when we recall His Calvary sacrifice over Easter weekend.

We’re meant to be ‘good soil’ followers of Christ
When negative thoughts came along – and they will because life is life – let’s recall Jesus’ Mark 4:14-19 warning about wasted word of God seed and His love of ‘good soil’…

‘The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.’ 

And if we embrace negativities, this can lead to other hindrances… because we won’t sound encouraging, and people needing inspiring won’t look to us for their encouragement. We here to help people work on reversing negativities!

It’s okay to admit problems exist in life but in treating them as challenges awaiting godly solutions we can turn them into positives fulfilling the next verse of this scripture… ‘Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop –some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.’ 

A fascinating presentation of positively reversing typical worldly discouragement into godly encouragement is found in a ‘u @ 50’ contest second place winner’s notations. Evidently, when young Jonathon Reed’s Lost Generation was shown, everyone present was awe-struck and broke into spontaneous applause.

Choose reversal today
It’s so simple, yet so brilliant. Log onto http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42E2fAWM6rA  and spend a few minutes viewing this great encouragement against negativism.

And don’t miss the terrific, watershed turning line: ‘And all this (the negativities) will come true unless we choose to reverse it.’

If negativity is affecting your own enjoyment of living life to the max in following Jesus or our Christianity and witnessing, be determined to reverse it. Maybe it’ll take a little time… but we can declare positive hope-bringing scriptures, release their power and truths, and convert negatives into positives.

Some scriptural keys…

• Don’t associate with negative people… it rubs off! Proverbs 22:25 warns ‘… you may learn their ways and get yourself ensnared.’
• Speak positively yourself! ‘Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen’ (Ephesians 4:29). 
• Resist the devil, if you suspect he’s involved. ‘Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you’ (James 4:7).
• Let Jesus give you peace – ‘You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you’(Isaiah 26:3).
• God is still in control so give thanks! 1Thessalonians 5:18 encourages ‘Give thanks in all circumstances…’

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Pastor Maureen McQuillan’s links are OnlinerConnect@gmail.com and Facebook
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